Casey Affleck accidentally suggests brother Ben is quitting as Batman
Whoops…
For months rumours have swirled that Ben Affleck is leaving his role as Batman in Warner Bros’ series of DC movies, with the actor said to be disappointed by the response to 2016’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and keen to exit the franchise after this November’s Justice League (which he has already filmed) but before Matt Reeves’ planned solo Batman film.
However, in recent weeks Affleck had poured cold water on the speculation, suggesting that he was keen to continue in the role at San Diego Comic-con last month.
“Batman is the coolest f*cking part in any universe,” he said at the time. “I am so thrilled to do it. It is f*cking amazing. After two films, Kevin Tsujihara, Sue Kroll and Toby Emmerich have said, ‘We want you to be our Batman.’
“I would be an ape on the ground for Matt Reeves. It’s a great time in the DC universe, and you can see why I am so excited to play Batman.”
Sounds pretty conclusive, right? Well, maybe not – because now speculation has started all over again after Affleck’s Oscar-winning brother Casey seemed to accidentally suggest Affleck would be hanging up his cowl before the solo Batman flick after all.
“Um … I thought he was an okay Batman. As far as … Nah, he was great,” Casey joked on WEEI’s “Dale & Holley With Keefe” radio programme (above).
“He’s a hero, so he had something to channel and work with there. But he’s not going to do that movie, I don’t think.”
After hearing the radio hosts’ surprise Affleck then backpedalled a little, asking “Is that breaking news? I was kind of making that up?”, but the damage was already done.
So is this really the end of Affleck’s caped crusader? Or was his brother just not totally au fait with his cramped filming schedule? We’d need the World’s Greatest Detective on hand for this one…
Justice League is released in UK cinemas on the 17th November
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
